# Alkalosis

Category: Conditions

A pH of the blood above 7.4.

10 passages · 1 author · 2006–2021 · Most-cited: [Ray Peat](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/voices/ray-peat/index.md)

Canonical page: https://bioenergeticoracle.com/concepts/alkalosis

## Synthesis

**Alkalosis** is a state of excessive alkalinity in the blood, which Ray Peat distinguished sharply from the healthy, mildly acidic state required inside cells. [Source 1, 7] While the blood is maintained at a slightly alkaline pH of 7.4, a healthy functioning cell is kept in a *mildly acidic state*, usually around a pH of 6.8 or 6.9. [Source 1, 7] This gradient is actively preserved by the cell excreting sodium into the bloodstream, with the kidneys eliminating the excess to prevent the blood from becoming too alkaline. [Source 1] The crucial distinction is that systemic alkalinity is not a sign of health; rather, the cell's internal acidity, maintained by adequate **carbon dioxide** (CO2), is essential for proper function. [Source 1, 9]

The most common and dangerous form of this condition is **respiratory alkalosis**, which Peat identified as a consequence of *relative hyperventilation*. [Source 1, 4, 6] This occurs when CO2 is lost too rapidly through the breath, often triggered by stress, anxiety, or hypothyroidism. [Source 1, 6] In hypothyroidism, metabolic inefficiency leads to low CO2 production and a compensatory increase in adrenaline and lactic acid, which further stimulates hyperventilation, creating a vicious cycle that depletes CO2 and raises blood pH. [Source 6] This pattern is not merely a blood gas disturbance; Peat described it as a systemic metabolic pattern characteristic of many kinds of stress, including cancer, involving generalized vasoconstriction and increased intracellular alkalinity. [Source 4] Even brief hyperventilation can trigger a cascade where platelets release **serotonin**, a major promoter of collagen synthesis and fibrosis. [Source 2]

Peat explained that the body's regulatory systems prioritize the retention of CO2 to maintain cellular acidity, which is why interventions like breathing into a paper bag or the Buteyko method work. [Source 1, 3] He noted that taking a dose of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) momentarily makes the blood more alkaline, but enzymes can convert the bicarbonate into acidic, oil-soluble CO2 that is retained inside cells; the excess sodium is then excreted by the kidneys, leaving a net gain of cellular CO2. [Source 1] Therefore, the effect of such a substance cannot be understood simply as leaving an alkaline balance. [Source 1, 9] Estrogen powerfully exacerbates the shift toward alkalosis by lowering thyroid function, increasing endotoxin absorption, and promoting hyperventilation, which helps explain its association with increased asthma risk and the tissue edema seen in hypothyroidism. [Source 3, 6]

The consequences of alkalosis extend to tissue structure and mineral balance. Stress-induced alkalosis favors increased collagen synthesis, while a lower pH inhibits it, linking the condition directly to fibrotic processes. [Source 2] In the context of bone health, Peat distinguished between respiratory alkalosis, where decreased CO2 impairs calcium retention, and *metabolic alkalosis*, where increased bicarbonate actually stimulates bone formation and suppresses its dissolution. [Source 5] He cautioned that treatments like calcitonin, vitamin D metabolites, and estrogen HRT can cause respiratory alkalosis, thereby contributing to calcium loss and osteoporosis. [Source 5] The body handles alkaline minerals with considerable flexibility; Peat cited the work of William Frederick Kolk, who found that alkaline minerals like sodium, potassium, and magnesium can substitute for each other to a great extent, allowing the body to sort out an excess. [Source 8]

On a practical level, Peat advised that urine pH is a useful indicator, recommending it be kept *slightly on the acidic side*, around 6.7, as a sign that the blood is being maintained at its proper pH of 7.4. [Source 1, 9] A diet higher in protein naturally makes the urine more acidic due to the sulfate and phosphate content, which is compatible with health. [Source 1] At a fundamental level, Peat framed the issue in terms of electron disposition, noting that excitation creates a field of alkalinity, and that the disposition of electrons in cells integrates metabolism, pH, and sensitivity. [Source 10] The goal is not to make the organism more alkaline, but to support the **oxidative metabolism** that produces sufficient CO2 to maintain the vital, acidic internal environment of the cell. [Source 1, 6]

## People also ask

### How does respiratory alkalosis differ from healthy cellular acidity?

Peat argued that healthy cells maintain a mildly acidic internal pH around 6.8, while respiratory alkalosis is a stress state where rapid CO2 loss from hyperventilation raises blood pH and disrupts this vital gradient.

### Why might baking soda not simply make the body more alkaline?

The corpus describes how enzymes can convert bicarbonate from baking soda into acidic, oil-soluble CO2 that cells retain, while the kidneys excrete excess sodium, resulting in a net gain of cellular CO2 rather than systemic alkalinity.

### What role does estrogen play in promoting alkalosis?

Peat explained that estrogen lowers thyroid function, increases endotoxin absorption, and promotes hyperventilation, all of which exacerbate the loss of CO2 and shift the body toward a state of respiratory alkalosis.

## Related concepts

- [Orange juice](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/orange-juice/index.md)
- [Acetylcholine](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/acetylcholine/index.md)
- [Acidosis](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/acidosis/index.md)
- [Adrenaline](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/adrenaline/index.md)
- [Arthritis](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/arthritis/index.md)
- [Carbon Dioxide (CO2)](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/carbon-dioxide-co2/index.md)

## Cited passages

Passage numbers match the `[Source N]` markers in the synthesis above.

### Source 1 — One Radio Network — Peat Ray (July 2021)

Ray Peat · Interview · Jul 19, 2021

> **Ray Peat:** In the limited sense of having a pH of 7.4 our blood should be mildly alkaline. But that doesn't mean that the cells should be mildly alkaline. In fact, the healthy functioning cell is kept in a mildly acidic state, usually 6.8 or 6.9 pH. And the... The reason the blood is not neutral, is slightly on the alkaline side, is that the metabolizing cell is excreting sodium into the blood and the excess is eliminated by the kidneys so that the blood doesn't become too alkaline. 7.4 is a steady state, safe level of alkalinity that corresponds to the acidity inside cells, which is preserved by exactly the excretion of the base into the bloodstream for potential elimination. If you Take a dose of baking soda, sodium bicarbonate. We have enzymes that, if the cell is deficient in carbon dioxide, for example, because it's hypothyroid, the bicarbonate is turned into acidic CO2 by these enzymes, and the acidic form of CO2 is oil-soluble, so it's retained inside the cells. And momentarily, taking the baking soda will make your blood more alkaline, but since the CO2 can be retained inside cells as far as needed, then the sodium becomes excess, raises your a pH sometimes a little above 7.4, at which point the kidneys excrete it, leaving a net of CO2 retained by the cells. So you can't think of taking CO2 as leaving a balance of alkalinity. It can leave a balance of CO2. And Normally, your nerves and various regulatory systems cause your breathing to be regulated so that you retain enough CO2 to keep the cells acidified. And if something like anxiety makes you breathe too fast and hypothyroid people aren't producing CO2 at a very high rate. So anxiety or stress is more likely to make a hypothyroid person hyperventilate, throwing off the CO2 they need. And that then makes their blood too alkaline. It's called respiratory alkalosis. And that... leads to things like panic attacks and...

### Source 2 — The Cancer Matrix

Ray Peat · Newsletter · Oct 5, 2015

> Because of the continual indoctrination about the importance of “early diagnosis to increase the chance of a cure,” and the widely publicized “cure rates,” it's easy for doctors to rush people into treatment, before they have time to study the issue. Dean Burk, who was a collaborator of Otto Warburg's for many years, was quoted in regard to the claims of the American Cancer Society that “They lie like scoundrels.”
>
> In the 1970s, I noticed that the definitions of the features of uterine cancer had been changed recently, including as “cancer” things that had previously been classified as merely abnormal or precancerous. Reading more about the grading of cancer, I saw that other cancers had been defined more inclusively since the 1940s. Things that had previously not been called cancer were now being counted among the cancers that were cured by the various treatments, so, necessarily, the rate of cure had increased. The true situation could be seen by the age-specific mortality rate for each type of cancer. During the period when the “cure rates” were increasing, the age-specific death rates had increased. I think that's the sort of thing that Dean Burk had in mind.
>
> Nearly all of the studies of “cure rates” are comparisons of one ideologically-based and lucrative treatment against another ideologically-based and more or less lucrative treatment. When the cure rate, for example for breast cancer surgery, varies with the amount of progesterone in the body, there is very little interest in investigating the processes involved, because lucrative products aren't involved.
>
> When abnormal “metastatic” cells circulate in the blood or lymph, most of them die spontaneously when they stick in a place that doesn't support their growth. Many of the nests of cells that have started to grow probably regress spontaneously when conditions in the body change. Even large, clearly diagnosed tumors occasionally regress spontaneously. Aging and sickness tend to support the vicious cycles that lead to the progressive deterioration of the collagenous matrix. Stress (even anxiety-induced hyperventilation) produces alkalosis, and alkalosis favors increased collagen synthesis, while lower pH inhibits it.[[6](#ref006)] For example, within a minute or two of hyperventilating, platelets release serotonin, and serotonin is a major promoter of collagen synthesis and fibrosis.

### Source 3 — Buteyko Breathing - Bud Weiss, 2008-09-15

Ray Peat · Interview · Sep 15, 2008

> **Ray Peat:** Patients with asthma exhale much more nitric oxide in their breath, and most of it is produced in the bronchial system, although inflammation anywhere in the body can raise the production of nitric oxide. Carbon dioxide will antagonize that production of nitric oxide and lower the inflammation. So simply providing carbon dioxide works against some of the basic mechanisms involved in asthma. One of the interesting things about estrogen treatment of menopausal women is that it causes a shift toward alkalosis and increases the risk of asthma. And that's partly because it increases endotoxin absorption from the intestine and circulation in the blood stream, and partly because estrogen lowers the thyroid function. All of which tend to lower the production of carbon dioxide leading a relative hyperventilation and alkalosis, which helps to excite the inflammation and contraction in the bronchial system.

### Source 4 — Autonomic systems

Ray Peat · Article · 2006 · https://raypeat.com/articles/other/autonomic-systems.shtml

> In stress, these substances are almost sure to be present in excess. (Anti-serotonin drugs are effective for a variety of heart problems, and other degenerative diseases.)
>
> By increasing the production of lactic acid and the loss of carbon dioxide, exaggerated nervous stimulation (especially the excess of acetylcholine, histamine, and serotonin) can cause a variety of problems, including generalized vasoconstriction and systemic alkalosis, as well as increased intracellular alkalinity. This metabolic pattern is characteristic of many kinds of stress, including cancer. (Elsewhere, I have referred to this pattern as “relative hyperventilation.”) The metabolic effects probably account for some of the “paradoxical” effects of the autonomic agents.
>
> When nutrition and thyroid function, light, atmospheric pressure, and other conditions are favorable, the autonomic transmitters (e.g., acetylcholine, histamine, serotonin, adrenalin) and pituitary hormones and other “signal substances” are kept within safe limits.
>
> Because the substances released from various cells under the influence of the autonomic nerves (histamine and serotonin, for example) stimulate cell division, injuries which produce clots and vascular spasms will also stimulate the formation of new blood vessels, a process that is essential for the adaptation of tissues to prolonged stress. These stress-induced agents are appropriately included in the “vegetative” (parasympathetic) nervous system, because they promote vegetation, i.e., the proliferation of substance. Adrenaline, and the sympathetic nerves, have the opposite function, of restraining cell division, and they also oppose the pro-inflammatory functions of those parasympathetic agents.
>
> Estrogen tends to shift autonomic balance toward the parasympathetic side, away from the sympathetic/adrenergic. Recalling that stress, hypothyroidism, and aging increase the activity of aromatase in various tissues, with local production of estrogen, and that tissue-bound estrogen stays at a high level in postmenopausal women despite the lower level of estrogen in the serum, it’s worthwhile looking at the effects of estrogen on the various components of the so-called autonomic nervous system.
>
> One injection of estrogen can induce a large increase in the number of sympathetic nerves in the ovaries. At menopause, a similar “invasion” of sympathetic nerves occurs.

### Source 5 — Bone Density: First Do No Harm

Ray Peat · Article · 2006 · https://raypeat.com/articles/aging/bonedensity.shtml

> Many women are told to stop taking a thyroid supplement when osteoporosis is diagnosed, but hypothyroidism often leads to hyperprolactinemia and hypercortisolemia, which are two of the most clearly established causes of osteoporosis. Calcitonin, vitamin D-active metabolite, and estrogen-”HRT” treatments can cause respiratory alkalosis (relative hyperventilation),[19-24] and hypothyroidism produces a predisposition to hyperventilation.[25] Hyperventilation tends to cause calcium loss. In respiratory alkalosis, CO2 (and sometimes bicarbonate) are decreased, impairing calcium retention, and in “metabolic alkalosis,” with increased bicarbonate, calcium is retained more efficiently and bone formation is stimulated, and its dissolution is suppressed.
>
> Other women are told to reduce their protein consumption, or to take fluoride or whatever drug has been most recently promoted. A protein deficiency is a clear cause of osteoporosis, and bone density corresponds to the amount of protein consumed. Milk protein, especially, protects against osteoporosis, independently of milk’s other important nutrients. Too much fluoride clearly increases the risk of bone fractures,[26] and the side effects of other drugs haven’t been properly studied in humans, while they often have dangerous effects in animals.
>
> Calcium, magnesium, vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin K, and vitamin D are important for the development and maintenance of bones. For example, a vitamin A deficiency limits the synthesis of progesterone and proteins. In calcium deficiency, parathyroid hormone is increased, and tends to cause the typical changes of aging, shifting calcium from hard tissues to soft, and decreasing the ratio of extracellular to intracellular (excitatory) calcium. Polyunsaturated fats are converted to prostaglandins (especially under the influence of estrogen), and several prostaglandins have toxic effects on bone. Those fats also suppress the formation of thyroid hormone and progesterone. The increased use of the unsaturated oils has coincided with the increase of osteoporosis. The oxidation of proteins caused by free radicals is increased with aging and by the use of unsaturated fats, and it contributes to tissue atrophy, including the age-related shrinkage of the bones.

### Source 6 — Progesterone, not estrogen, is the coronary protection factor of women.

Ray Peat · Article · 2006 · https://raypeat.com/articles/aging/coronaryprogesterone.shtml

> I think we can begin to see that the various “heart protective” ideas that have been promoted to the public for fifty years are coming to a dead end, and that a new look at the fundamental problems involved in heart disease would be appropriate. Basic principles that make heart disease more understandable will also be useful for understanding shock, edema, panic attacks, high altitude sickness, high blood pressure, kidney disease, some lung diseases, MS, multiple organ failure, and excitotoxicity or “programmed” cell death of the sort that causes degenerative nerve diseases and deterioration of other tissues.
>
> The research supporting this view is remarkably clear, but it isn’t generally known because of the powerful propaganda coming from the drug and oil industries and their public servants.
>
> Broda Barnes was right when he said that the “riddle of heart attacks” was solved when he demonstrated that hypothyroidism caused heart attacks, and that they were prevented by correcting hypothyroidism. He also observed that correcting hypothyroidism prevented the degenerative conditions (including heart disease) that so often occur in diabetics. Since hypothyroidism and diabetes are far more frequent in women, who have fewer heart attacks than men, it is appropriate to wonder why women tolerate hypothyroidism better than men.
>
> In hypothyroidism and diabetes, respiration is impaired, and lactic acid is formed even at rest, and relatively little carbon dioxide is produced. To compensate for the metabolic inefficiency of hypothyroidism, adrenalin and noradrenalin are secreted in very large amounts. Adrenalin causes free fatty acids to circulate at much higher levels, and the lactic acid, adrenalin, and free fatty acids all stimulate hyperventilation.
>
> The already deficient carbon dioxide is reduced even more, producing respiratory alkalosis. Free fatty acids, especially unsaturated fats, increase permeability of blood vessels, allowing proteins and fats to enter the endothelium and smooth muscle cells of the blood vessels. Lactic acid itself promotes an inflammatory state, and in combination with reduced CO2 and respiratory alkalosis, contributes to the hyponatremia (sodium deficiency) that is characteristic of hypothyroidism. This sodium deficiency and osmotic dilution causes cells to take up water, increasing their volume.
>
> In hyperventilation, the heart’s ability to work is decreased, and the work it has to do is increased, because peripheral resistance is increased, raising blood pressure.

### Source 7 — One Radio Network — Peat Ray (July 2021)

Ray Peat · Interview · Jul 19, 2021

> **Patrick Timpone:** Wow, interesting. Amazing. We're talking with Dr. Ray Peat, who's here on the third Monday of the month. And Dr. Peat, we thank you so much for taking the time to visit with us every month. We really appreciate it.
>
> **Ray Peat:** Oh, you're welcome.
>
> **Patrick Timpone:** We really do. Here's a question from David in Australia. And he says, you know, there's a lot of people out there that's kind of demonizing being metabolically acidic, meaning the more acidic, then the more cancer, poor functioning of kidneys. What does Dr. Ray Peat think about this idea of being more alkaline for health?

### Source 8 — Alkalinity vs Acidity 2012 KMUD the Herb Doctors

Ray Peat · Interview · 2012

> **Ray Peat:** Another person who studied cancer at the very basic level, was William Frederick Kolk. He in working on the parathyroid hormone before he did his famous cancer preparations, he found that the alkaline minerals to a tremendous extent would substitute for each other. So you could, for example, cure... You can take out the parathyroid glands which cause a calcium problem. But you could cure that with sodium, potassium or magnesium.
>
> **Herb Doctor:** So the salt could replace the calcium or the potassium or the magnesium.
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yeah. To a great extent any of those alkaline minerals can replace the others so you don't have to worry about balance so much because having an excess your body can sort them out.
>
> **Herb Doctor:** Well that's a good fail-safe mechanism of the body. I think we have another caller on the line. Michael: Can you simulate being at a high altitude by eating a lot of baking soda?
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yeah, that's what the bicycle racers were doing. When someone who lives at a high altitude goes to sea level, they very often get sick.
>
> **Herb Doctor:** And vise versa.

### Source 9 — One Radio Network — Peat Ray (July 2021)

Ray Peat · Interview · Jul 19, 2021

> So you can't think of taking CO2 as alkalinity. It can leave a balance of CO2 of CO2. your nerves and various regulatory systems breathing to be regulated so that you retain enough CO2 to keep the cells acidified. And if something like anxiety too too fast and hypothyroid people aren't producing CO2 at a very high rate, anxiety or stress, is more likely endlate the CO2 they need. And that then makes their blood too alkaline. It's called respiratory alkalosis. And that leads to things like panic attacks. Arhythmia, I know, those kind of things. Yeah. Orhythmia, yeah. Yeah. So if we just did those little pieces of paper dock and did our urine, Is that a test of anything that matters? Oh, yeah. It's good to keep your urine just slightly on the acidic side. Like six or seven, maybe? 6.7 is a good number. 6.7? The more protein you eat, the more acidic your urine is likely to be because of the sulfate and phosphate. in the meat and other proteins that they make the blood sometimes all the way down to pH 5. But just being slightly on the acidic side of urine is compatible with keeping your blood at about 7.4. What do you think? Do you know anything about the alkalinity of the water or the acidity of the water and how it would affect the body. Yeah, a lot of minerals are slightly basic. If they're good minerals like magnesium and calcium, that's good. And one of the effects of the mineralized water is that deposit a stony material inside your plumbing. At least it's not drawing out zinc and copper and iron and lead or whatever. river might be in the solder of your plumbing. So it protects you from plumbing poisoning, hard water. Very soft water can dissolve enough toxic heavy metals to be a problem just coming through your plumbing. So if your water's too soft, how can that be a problem? Because isn't that getting rid of? It's enough carbon dioxide, carbonic acid, that the way water dripping calcium stalactite evaporating, having dissolved calcium, having dissolved calcium from the stone, it will deposit them. And water is naturally absorbing a little bit of CO2. It's able to dissolve the cave.

### Source 10 — Physiology Texts and the Real World

Ray Peat · Newsletter · 2014

> The basic group is usually an amino function.
> - The disposition of electrons in cells and tissues is a global phenomenon, integrating metabolism, pH, osmolarity, and sensitivity. Excitation creates a field of alkalinity.
> - Cellular differentiation; developmental fields, polarities.
> - Regulation of water; electroosmosis; edema in relation to cellular energy.
> - Vicinal water, all water near surfaces, most of the water in cells, has special properties.
> - Needs on the cellular level guide the organism's adaptations.
> - Functional systems, multilevel adaptive integrations, in which many “systems” and cell types are organized according to activity and needs, leading to anatomical and functional changes.
> - Energy and relaxation, cellular inhibition, a structural state involving the entire cell substance. High energy phosphate bonds explain nothing about the cell's energy.
> - Multilevel self-regulation; cell intelligence, organic compensations (function producing structure, organ regeneration, vascular neogenesis, stem cell functions, immunity/morphogenesis, tubercles/tumors, fat/fiber/muscle/phagocytosis) permits highly organized and novel adaptive responses, which are goal-directed rather than mechanistically “programmed” from the genes.
> - Sensitivity and motility—plants and animals, subtle cues, rhythms, motivations.
> - Adaptation—learning, intention, and stress.
> - Light, energy, motion; pigments and electron donor-acceptor bonds.
> - Acceptor of action, innate and learned models of reality. Intentionality is involved in “reflexes.”
> - Digestion—bowel and liver; immune system and nervous system; need and interpretation, analysis; approximation and assimilation. Intestinal flora and detoxifying. Detoxifying fatty acids, estrogen, insulin, nerve chemicals, etc.
> - Nutrition—appetite and satisfaction.
> - Reproduction, puberty, menopause; how they are affected by the environment.
> - Humor, curiosity, exploratory and inventive potentials and need.
> - Growth and aging; energy, individualization and generalization; mitosis and meiosis, germ cells.
> - Nurse cells, their interactions in various organs.
> - Chalones, wound hormones, phagocytes, regeneration, nerve products; inhibition of growth by nerves. Frog extracts in development. Anatomy is a dynamic system, whose integration is part of physiology.
> - Inflammations and tumors are systemic events, in causes and effects.

_Generated 2026-07-20 from the Bioenergetic Oracle corpus._